The Hong Kong stock market has finished higher in back-to-back trading days, soaring more than 1,000 points or 4.4 percent along the way. The Hang Seng Index now rests just above the 24,250-point plateau although it may be stuck in neutral on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft thanks to plummeting crude oil prices, while profit taking is also likely on the docket. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets are predicted to follow the latter lead.
The Hang Seng finished sharply higher on Tuesday with gains across the board - especially from the properties, casinos and financials.
For the day, the index surged 504.17 points or 2.12 percent to finish at 24,253.29 after trading between 23,796.03 and 24,262.01.
Among the actives, WH Group skyrocketed 6.02 percent, while CSPC Pharmaceutical surged 5.16 percent, Galaxy Entertainment soared 7.35 percent, Techtronic Industries spiked 5.70 percent, AAC technologies accelerated 3.23 percent, CITIC jumped 2.59 percent, AIA Group climbed 2.54 percent, Power Assets perked 2.34 percent, Sands China gathered 2.33 percent, China Life Insurance advanced 2.19 percent, China Mobile added 2.02 percent, China Mengniu Dairy gained 1.80 percent, Tencent Holdings rose 1.63 percent, New World Development increased 1.60 percent, Hong Kong & China Gas climbed 1.46 percent, Ping An Insurance jumped 1.45 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 1.35 percent, China Resources Land advanced 1.09 percent, BOC Hong Kong added 1.06 percent, CNOOC increased 0.56 percent and China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) was up 0.50 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is slightly soft as stocks opened sharply higher on Tuesday but faded as the day progressed, sending the major averages slightly into the red.
The Dow eased 26.13 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 22,653.86, while the NASDAQ lost 25.98 points or 0.33 percent to 7,887.26 and the S&P 500 fell 4.27 points or 0.16 percent to end at 2,659.41.
The initial strength on Wall Street came as traders reacted to recent signs that the spread of the coronavirus is slowing in hot spots such as New York.
But buying interest waned shortly after the start of trading, however, with traders taking profits after seeing Monday's strong rally as overdone.
Crude oil futures ended sharply lower Tuesday after the Energy Information Administration lowered its forecast for crude oil prices for the year. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended down $2.45 or 9.4 percent at $23.63 a barrel.
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